Construction workers today are fashioning the exterior look of the long slabs of concrete and steel beams that provide the framework for what is being hailed as a unique shopping experience.
Twelve- to 15-million people are expected to shop yearly at The Streets at Southpoint when the 1.3-million-sq.-ft. (120,774 sq m) regional mall opens March 8, 2002 in Durham, NC.
With a decor designed to match the Bull City’s historic tobacco warehouses, the street scenes being developed indoors are expected to give visitors the feel of walking outdoors down Main Street in southeast Durham. The paved parking lot has already been completed at the sprawling center conveniently located off Fayetteville Road where it meets with U.S. 40, a major roadway crossing the state. Ramps in the area also are undergoing a major realignment in anticipation of increased traffic for the center.
During construction there will be approximately 2,500 jobs, an estimated two-thirds of which are local. After opening, approximately 3,500 permanent full-time jobs will be available and up to 5,500 on a seasonal basis.
In addition, adjacent to the mall will be an “open-air” entertainment district incorporating more than 250,000 sq. ft. (23,226 sq m) of shops, restaurants and entertainment facilities, including a 90,000-sq.-ft. (8,361 sq m) theater complex and an Imax theater.
Located on a 140-acre (57 ha) site triangled between Interstate 40 and Fayetteville Road, Southpoint will be a two-level regional mall featuring such major department stores as the first Nordstrom in North Carolina, a two-story, 144,000-sq.-ft. (13,378 sq m) building encased in caramel-colored bricks and a few rows of darker stripes designed in a Georgian style to give it a regional look. It will feature an entire floor dedicated to women’s fashions, five shoe departments, a cafe and an espresso bar.
To the north of Nordstrom is Hecht’s Department Store, a 180,000-sq.-ft. (16,723 sq m) structure which is expected to open in November. Crews are being hoisted by JLG lifts in order to affix ornate metal window and building trim along the upper surfaces of the front and rear entrances and across other areas of the building. Other anchor department stores being framed and scheduled for opening in March, include Belk (180,000 sq. ft. [16,723 sq m]), JC Penney (102,704 sq. ft. [9,542 sq m]), and Sears (111,864 sq. ft. [10,393 sq m]). Approximately 130 specialty stores in all will be located at the center.
The center will be a combination of both a traditional enclosed retail mall and an open-to-the-sky cityscape called Main Street — designed to create a contemporary street atmosphere to recall the best of traditional shopping streets of the past and present.
The developer, Chicago-based Urban Retail Properties, has it all planned, down to the imitation manhole covers and street lights that will give the mall a “Main Street” feel and the bronze statues of children playing Frisbee or children climbing up a street sign to pull down a caught kite.
The plan has been designed by RTKL Associates Inc. of Dallas, TX. The firm did extensive research with materials and the detailing in order to replicate both in the building. It is being carried out by the general building contractor Beers, and the general site contractor C.C. Mangum, both of Raleigh, NC.
Jim Farrell, a senior vice-president of Urban, who is overseeing the mall’s construction, is responsible for new development and department store relationships across the United States. He calls the project “one of the most exciting and positive developments in the history of Durham. “It’s going to be a fun place to shop and a fun place to work,” he added.
The main street inside the mall is Southpoint Boulevard. It is here that more than 100 shops will have their own facade and front doors to give the mall a downtown feel.
“The tenants love it because it gave them their own identity,” Farrell said. A light and airy environment is achieved by the installation of skylights, one 75 ft. (23 m) above the mall’s center court. The plan is to give an exterior feeling inside the mall. As many as 30 of the retailers will be new to the area.
Southpoint Boulevard, meanwhile, connects with Main Street which encompasses more than 200,000 sq. ft. (18,581 sq m) and leads to an outdoor entertainment area that will house as many as eight restaurants. At least five will be new to the Carolinas. The Fork in the Road Cafes include 10 distinct eateries featuring various types of cuisine in a 30,000-sq.-ft. (2,787 sq m) food court that has a seating capacity for more than 750 people.
Also outside will be a row of larger specialty stores, as well as fountains and the 16-screen megaplex movie theater designed to look like one of the old tobacco buildings. Called Southpoint Cinemas, the concrete enclosed building will feature stadium seating and digital surround sound. The area also will be used for outdoor concerts and art displays.
Construction of the theater itself is significant in that “tilt-up” walls, normally used on single-story structures, were used. The load-bearing wall panels are cast horizontally on the building’s floor, slab face down, then tilted up into vertical position with high-capacity mobile cranes.
Dramatic storefront facades are designed as individual buildings and range from 14 to 30 ft. (4.3 to 9 m) in height. The design of the project places visitors in an environment where the indoors and outdoors blend, vibrant shopping storefronts span two stories, and warehouse decor creates a similar feel to historic downtown Durham.
Urban Shopping Centers Inc., a self-administered real estate investment trust (REIT), is in the business of owning, acquiring, managing, leasing, developing and redeveloping super regional and regional malls.
The company opened Brandon Town Center in Tampa, FL, in February l995; Wolfchase Galleria In Memphis, TN, in February 1997; Citrus Park Town Center in Tampa, FL, in March 1999; and Galleria at Roseville in the fall of 2000.
Urban Shopping Centers Inc., owns several of the premier shopping centers in the United States including Oakdale Center (Oak Brook, IL), Water Tower Place (Chicago, IL), Old Orchard Center (Skokie, IL), Copley Place (Boston, MA), San Francisco Shopping Center (San Francisco, CA), and Century City Shopping Center & Marketplace (Los Angeles, CA). Its property management, leasing and development affiliate, Urban Retail Properties Co., is one of the nation’s largest property managers, managing more than 66 million sq. ft. in 24 states and the District of Columbia.
